The Aries preamp too relies for its back panel on zero central or other reinforcements across its width. It attaches only to the corners without any small L brackets anywhere between it and the top or bottom. Pushing on RCA connectors or pulling them off will thus flex the rear panel in and out. That's no sonic loss of course. It simply takes away from pride of ownership and betrays a quite primitive mechanical design. Looking at the internal assembly, we again witness Konstantinos' preference for flying leads, particularly for his i/o ports. The broad ribbon cable from the display was disconnected from the mother board upon receipt so I pushed the multi-pin connector back into its bay.

For its sides, the Aries uses rail extrusions with parallel grooves on the outside and top-panel mounting nuts which freely slide in a groove. If you move those nuts during open handling as I did during photography, you must move them back into position with the tip of a screw driver before the lid screws will properly meet them.

Compared to the somewhat basic case work, the gleaming remote wand of the Aries—and Virgo top-loading CD player as indicated by the direct-access track buttons and usual commands—is clearly machined from different stock. As such it expresses a different and slicker level of finishing.

For value hunters of course, this type of consideration is about nearly artificial nits. As such they are mentioned only for proper context in an age where luxury finishing often trumps inner virtues or hard performance. As always, the real test would be in the listening.